Best Stuff

for Med Students*

*Pre-meds, Interns and Residents,
you're welcome too

When you’re writing your Curriculum Vitae, or better said, your life course, you must focus an all your academic and professional achievements and skills. A medical CV is expected to be a bit more detailed concerning your education, certifications, teaching experience, publications, and the honors you received. Therefore, we will present you some insightful writing tips and the perfect guide with samples for writing an outstanding medical CV. Writing Tips Before you start writing the CV, there are several things you should take into consideration concerning the way you present it. First, you should choose the template: chronological, functional, or hybrid. Most people choose the chronological template as the best way to present your experience is in a reverse chronological order. Secondly, in order to have aneligible CV, you must format the page and choose the right font: Arial, Calibri, Cambria, Helvetica, Georgia, Verdana, making sure that the font size is between 10.5 and 12. In addition to that, while writing your CV, you should keep in mind that the information you present must be tailored. But what does it mean to tailor your resume? Well,it is a crucial step which basically requires you to introduce some ofthe keywords the company used in the job post description, usually the required skills. Why’s this crucial? Because most recruiters use a special software to scan your resume before they actually read...

This post came from a conversation that I had with somebody not in medical school that really wanted to ask one important question. “Why are medical students and premed stressed out all the time?” And it’s a really fair question if you’re not in the medical environment. After talking to this person for awhile, I came away with one thing that stresses medical students and premeds more than anything. What is that one thing that causes medical school stress? We love comparing ourselves with our classmates. Let’s be honest, we all do it – consciously and unconsciously. In this post, we’re going to have a heart to heart on how to overcome this. If you want this in a video form, check out the following YouTube video and be sure to subscribe to the channel. Why are Med Students Stressed? I hope that you’re nodding saying, “You know what? Med students are always stressed!” And I hope you also agree that comparing ourselves with others has something to do with that! We have to ask ourselves, why do we compare ourselves to our classmates so much? It’s because we’re used to being high achieving individuals. Look back at grade school, you were probably the all A student. This is where it all started! You may think to yourself, “I didn’t really compare myself to that many people back then.” That’s probably because...

Are you on the journey towards becoming a fully-fledged doctor? The field of medicine is quite competitive, and different people choose to pursue it for varying reasons. Some may feel it’s their calling, while others may be drawn to it by a particular experience. Whatever your reasons, medical school can be challenging and exciting at the same time. Before you start your MD residency, you have probably looked for residency help services. In your research, you may have come across some purported truths about what your experience could be like. Well, it’s good that you want to familiarize yourself with what to expect. However, you should watch out for misconceptions about an MD residency that many propagate. It will be difficult to handle stress In your residency, you will sometimes be deprived of sleep. You will often feel burnout, and this is stressful enough. Now, if you don’t know how to manage stress, it could lead you to depression. Though the medical system may feel dysfunctional, you can alleviate stress, by letting go of toxic people in your life. Create time away from your rotations for a social life. Choose to view the circumstances in a favorable light. This way you will minimise the external stressors that add to the pressures of residency. You won’t have a social life This myth could cause many to second guess their decision...

On one of my first shifts of my emergency medicine rotation, a tech ran into the physician workroom shouting that she needed a doctor – a patient was having a seizure. The attending was checking on a patient in the trauma bays while the resident was admitting another patient, so all eyes were on me. I approached the patient, who was clearly postictal and confused, rose the head of the bed, and spoke calmly with him and his terrified family until the resident arrived. Although backup came quickly in this case, emergency medicine is a fast-paced specialty requiring us to think and process information quickly. If you’re in an EM rotation, you need to know the top five ways to keep up: 1. Be prepared for your clerkship. In terms of attire, facilities typically recommend or even require scrubs. Most will provide them, and some even let you wear your own. You’ll be on your feet or standing almost constantly during a busy shift, so wearing compression socks under scrubs can be very beneficial. Good footwear is a must! Most people wear sneakers or a comfortable clog like Dansko (eBay and thrift stores are great places to look for affordable medical clogs). In terms of tools, a stethoscope is definitely essential. I also found it helpful to keep a reflex hammer and trauma shears handy. Lastly, I’d recommend bringing a cheap...

In a growing world of entrepreneurship and technology advancing our society and expectations, are they improving society but making our degrees useless? As almost docs, is tacking an MBA or a business degree next to your MD worth it? I recently read an article about how an eighteen year old kid started his own hedge fund in his room at home, all because he had the connections that mattered to do it. He didn’t do it with a degree, he didn’t spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and studied for years to do it, he simply had the network to do it. As a business student, I must truly question the opportunity cost of school. Losing four precious years of life and hundreds of thousands of dollars all for a piece of paper that says I studied. Yet, it is important that I have that piece of paper because it is an indicator to society that I have gone to school for the “right” amount of time and now am ready to work. But in terms of a job in business, I argue that it is the connection to the company or person who hires you that is much more important than the degree itself. Two alike kids coming out of college want to work in the financial sector, one has family in the line of business and the...

As pharmaceutical and technological advancements continue, it translates into rapid growth in cardiovascular medicine or cardiology. Cardiology is a specialty in the medical field that involves the treatment of conditions, defects and diseases of the circulatory system and the heart. It also includes diagnosis of the same. In America, the leading cause of deaths in both genders is heart disease. Advancements in treatment technology and increased awareness has led to a growing need for specialists who deal with heart care. It is something to motivate you as you search for fellowship in cardiology online expert help. Becoming a cardiologist isn’t easy, it requires intense training and academic experience. Below are some of the things you should know about a career in cardiology: You Can Start Early It addresses those who realise earlier in the journey about their desire to pursue cardiology. You can start shaping your career path straight from high school. Try and find your feet in sciences and maths. If your school offers Honors or AP courses, especially in Biology and Chemistry, take them. These courses may help you earn college credit, which is a good thing from the perspective of prospective universities. Medical school is quite competitive. Ensure that you apply yourself in your studies and get good grades. Look at potential universities that appeal to you and get your application ready. You Don’t Have to...

For commuters, medical students, or both: I like having real talks with people, heart to hearts; so let’s go heart to heart on the fact that commuting is hell. According to one of my favorite writers Dante Alighieri, there are nine circles of hell, a person is placed in one of them based upon their sins. Have you sinned on your commute? Let’s find out. Limbo You and all the other zombies on that train, you know them. Or maybe when your in your car pumping out casual jazz music to relax before a long day of surgeries and you look over and see all the other cars stuck in traffic with you, doing the same exact thing. Limbo. Stuck in endless casual peril. Nothing bad is happening, but there sure is nothing good going on. Let’s be real there’s only so much smooth jazz you can listen to. Lust Now while defined differently then Dante had intended it to be, commuter lust does exist. Jazz pumping in your ear, you can almost hear the sound of all the babies crying in your pediatric office later that day. Glancing out the window you see an open lane that leads right to the exit off the highway and you could be home free within 30 minutes. Take that route, and you’ll end up in the second circle of commuter hell. Gluttony...